The Ones We Love
by Alc Fluteo
Summary: A response to Samuraiko's drabble request challenge. While Kambei and Nasami's wedding takes place, one little girl tries to come to terms with her saddness and gets a visit from someone she loves dearly.


Alc: Samuraiko was having a request for drabble ideas to be given to her (on her Livejournal account) so that she could write them. After I requested mine she posted another entry that said now we should write drabbles for her revolving around Nasami and Kambei getting married. And, seeing as how Kikuchiyo is my favorite character and he needs more love, I wrote a story about him and posted it in her journal.

This is my first Samurai 7 fanfic so I hope I did well (which from comments by samuraiko and ekmisao I did do very well!)

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As the others watched, minus the odd disappearance of Kyuzo, he sighed and looked beyond the two happy people of the living world to those that stood behind them.

He could see the farmers, doing their traditional praises and offerings and practices that farmers usually did at weddings. He could see Kirara the water priestess, giving the happy couple good blessings and telling them all what the waters could tell of the rest of their life.

Finally he looked for the one person he expected to be jumping for joy, or at least chasing down her best friend and stealing food from the banquet table. His face grew confused as he surveyed the area and found no trace of the person he affectionately called "Sprout".

Looking over the others shoulders at the backs of all the farmers he couldn't see the small young girl, though he did spy her friend standing near Kirara.

"_That's weird…they usually don't separate from each other._" He thought to himself as he passed through the crowds, literally.

"Hey, you don't want to curse them all now do you?" Said Heihachi as Kikuchiyo passed through the last farmer in his row and turned to face the wood chopping samurai. He waved a hand as if to say "_They don't know I'm here anyway._" and walked off into the woods where he thought Komachi might have wandered.

A little ways into the woods Kikuchiyo heard a sniffling sound. As he tiptoed towards the sound he saw that it was Komachi, sitting on a small rock outcropping wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"_Women, I'll never understand why they get so emotional at these things._" Kikuchiyo thought as he walked out of the bushes and sat next to Komachi on the rock outcropping.

Suddenly Komachi started talking to herself. "I shouldn't be crying! I should be happy that Nasami and Kambei are getting married! Bu-But…" Tears started to flow down her cheeks again. "I was supposed to marry Kiku and cook for him and make him happy! But now that he's gone I can't!"

Kikuchiyo wasn't sure what to think. The little girl he had promised to marry was crying right next to him, though she didn't know that he was there. He decided that even though she couldn't hear him, maybe she could still feel what he was trying to get across.

He patted her on the head and ruffled her hair as he spoke. "Hey Sprout, you shouldn't be crying, you should be out there celebrating with everyone else and then cause a ruckus for Kambei. Ha, I'd love to see the look on his face when you like, steal his drink or something. But then again, he might catch you at it or something. But the point is, you should go out there and have fun and enjoy yourself. You shouldn't be worried about me, you'll see me eventually then maybe we can have a wedding up there in the clouds."

He patted her on the head a few more times and then ruffled her hair one last time before he heard Gorobei call for him.

"YEAH YEAH, I'M COMIN', HOLD YOUR HORSES! See ya later kiddo, I'll be watching out for you."

Komachi sniffled and looked around. As she looked at the place where Kikuchiyo had previously been sitting she saw a single lone feather laying on the rock. She picked it up and held it close to her face as she looked at it.

"...Kiku?" She whispered as she looked up into the clouds. She heard someone calling her name from the clearing where the wedding was being held and pocketed the feather and ran out into the clearing to see what mischief she and Okara could cause.

Up in the clouds, three samurai looked down at the happy couple and one smiled down fondly at the little girl that he cared the world for.

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Alc: I hope you enjoyed it. Please review if you don't mind, I'd like to see what you all thought! 


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